Sunday, 27 August 2017

How the Gardenia Got its Name

The gardenia
is a familiar, fragrant flowering plant with whitish flowers. Obviously, it derived its Latin name from the word “garden,” but it was not named for
a place full of plants, but a physician and naturalist who lived in
Charleston, South Carolina during the eighteenth century.

Alexander
Garden was born in Birse, Aberdeenshire, Scotland in 1730. He studied at
Aberdeen and Edinburgh Universities, receiving an MD from the latter school. He
served as a surgeon in the British navy for several years, but resigned, he
said, because he could not overcome sea sickness. A lung complaint, probably
tuberculosis, may also have played a part in his decision.

He
emigrated to South Carolina in 1752 in hopes of improving his health and
income. In the latter goal, at least, he succeeded. South Carolina was not only the wealthiest British North American colony, it was also the unhealthiest. Garden married a wealthy local
heiress, Elizabeth Peronneau, and soon had a flourishing practice in the provincial capital, Charlestown). (Image: Charlestown harbor, 1760s)

By the time of the American Revolution Garden had become the richest physician in the colony, and had bought a
plantation in nearby Goose Creek, which he named Otranto.

His passion,
however was natural history, initially botany, but later zoology. In South
Carolina, Garden collected specimens of many new species and sent them to
European naturalists, especially John Ellis of London. As a reward, Ellis urged
the Swedish naturalist Carolus Linnaeus to name a new genus or species after Garden.

Linnaeus had invented the modern system of biological classification, and currently
had the final say on naming. Garden and Linnaeus also opened a correspondence that
lasted for several years. (Image: Linnaeus)

In 1757,
Ellis failed to convince Linnaeus to name a South Carolina plant after Garden,
the Calycanthus floridus (Sweet
Shrub, below).

The next year, Ellis first set eyes on an attractive, fragrant plant
that a ship had recently brought from South Africa. He soon began a campaign to
get Linnaeus to name it after Garden. Linnaeus initially refused, saying he
preferred to give the name to a plant discovered by Garden himself, or another
species. In 1760, Linnaeus reluctantly agreed to the name gardenia, giving Garden what Ellis called a “Species of Eternity.”

The honor impressed many of Garden’s acquaintances in Charlestown, but one medical
colleague was apparently jealous. Dr. Louis Mottet is alleged to have scoffed that
he had discovered a very beautiful local plant, and named it “Lucia” after his
cook, Lucy.

In the
following years, Garden continued to make contributions to natural history,
including the discovery of new species of amphibians and fish. (Image: Siren lacertina)

In 1773, Garden was
elected to membership of the Royal Society of London, Britain’s most prestigious
scientific organization. Among those who nominated him were Ellis and Benjamin Franklin. During these years became a close friend of many leading figures of South Carolina, among them Henry Laurens, later president of the Continental Congress. Garden mentored and adored Laurens’ son John Laurens, who served as a a Patriot officer during the American Revolution, and was killed in one of its last engagements (Aug. 1782).

The War for Independence proved disastrous for Garden. He tried, unsuccessfully, to remain neutral. His family divided. During the British
occupation of Charleston (1780-82), his daughter Harriette married a British officer. His
son Alex joined the Continental Army, rising to the rank of major.

In 1782, the
South Carolina State Assembly banished Garden as a Loyalist for having signed a
memorial congratulating Lord Cornwallis on his victory at the Battle of Camden.
The government of South Carolina confiscated most of his property, although
Alex was allowed to keep Otranto. (Image: Battle of Camden)

When the
British evacuated Charleston in December 1782, Garden, his wife, and younger
daughter Juliette went into exile in London. He died there in 1791, most likely
of tuberculosis. During his time in London, he was an active member of the
Royal Society, and was elected vice-president.

Further
reading:

Edmund Berkeley
and Dorothy Smith Berkeley, Alexander
Garden of Charles Town (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press,
1969)

James Edward
Smith, A Selection of the Correspondence
of Linnaeus and Other Naturalists (2 vols., London, 1821)

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About Me

Following more than thirty years as a history professor, I am now doing freelance writing, editing, speaking, and consulting. I received my PhD. from
the University of Wisconsin-Madison and taught history at the College of
Charleston in Charleston, South Carolina from 1974 until 2008.

My most recent non-fiction work,
Slavery, Disease, and Suffering in the Southern Lowcountry (Cambridge and New
York: Cambridge University Press, 2011) has received excellent reviews and was a co-winner of the SHEAR
Prize (2012) for best book on the history of the early American republic.

I have reviewed manuscripts for journals and academic publishers and
have consulted or done research on various historical projects for individuals,educational television,and organizations, including most recently, Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press, Atlantic Studies, South Carolina Educational Television, and University of South Carolina Press.

I have recently completed a novel of the American Revolution entitled Garden of Liberty and am working on a second novel, about a London physician and the body snatching trade in the 1790's, tentatively entitled Wells of Death.

SKILLS: Writing, Editing, Researching, Consulting, Teaching, Public Speaking. AWARDS, PRIZES, HONORS: SHEAR Best Book Prize, Society of Historians of the Early American Republic, 2012, co-winner.Distinguished Professor, College of Charleston, 2002Governor’s Distinguished Professor, College of Charleston, 1998South Carolina Historical Association, Prize for Best Paper published in Proceedings of the South Carolina Historical Association, 1993-94Distinguished Teaching Award, College of Charleston, 1985

MAJOR PUBLICATIONS: Slavery, Disease, and Suffering in the Southern Lowcountry. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2011.

Associate Editor, South Carolina Encyclopedia. Responsible for hundreds of entries on medicine and science, many of which I wrote myself. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 2005.

Moonlight, Magnolias, and Madness: Insanity in South Carolina from the Colonial to the Progressive Eras. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1996.